The economic dislocation of the past few decades, aggravated by the pandemic, have weakened or severed these bonds, leaving us disconnected, atomized, trapped in a debilitating anomie that fosters rage, despair, loneliness and fuels the epidemic of substance abuse, depression and suicidal ideation. Estranged from society, we become estranged from ourselves.

It’s not enough to call out police when they kill people. Police will continue to murder more people every year with impunity, their violence nurtured by powerful allies. If we want to see a significant reversal to the ruthless march of police savagery, we’re going to need to put our money where our mouths are: toward people’s needs, not police’s deadly deeds.

Russell Banks understood the original sins of America and their consequences. He grappled in his writing with the distressing pathologies that give rise to the horrors carried out in our name overseas and at home. He forced us to look at ourselves, to see who we are, all the while holding out a flicker of hope that if we can grieve for others, we might change.

The internecine warfare in the House is not between those who respect democratic institutions and those who do not. McCarthy, backed by Trump and far-right conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, is as morally bankrupt as those trying to bring him down. This is a battle for control among con artists, charlatans, social media celebrities and mobsters.

Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy is an embarrassment, a strident polemic, not diplomacy. If implemented it will end any possibility of substantive Canada-China cooperation on the environment, an imperative in the face of the global climate emergency. It also increases the possibility of war and the use of nuclear weapons, the other existential crisis of this era.

While there is no doubt that Joe Biden, whose administration has already been characterized by high inflation, had plenty of political motivation to prevent an even deeper supply chain crisis by blocking the rail strike, the confidence private capital interests had in his willingness to prevent it from happening exposes the president’s “union-guy” persona as a façade.

After the results of the US midterms rolled in, the Democratic Party collectively breathed a sigh of relief. The predicted Republican “red wave” turned into a trickle as Democrats won key races across the country. This elation is understandable. But something curious is also happening: some on the left are claiming that there was a different kind of red wave—of socialism, that is.

Despite endless cries of Russian “interference” and “meddling” in US elections, comparatively little attention is paid to much larger foreign movers and shakers in American political life. In 2018 alone, Israel spent at least $22 million on lobbying and campaign donations during that year’s election cycle. Where are the anxious reports on “Israelgate”? They’re nowhere to be found.

It’s becoming commonplace to suggest that a multipolar world order is emerging, one that will replace the US-dominated world system that has reined since the end of the Second World War and faced no serious challengers since the fall of the Soviet Union. As Greg Shupak writes, what is certain is that the old order will not fall without a great deal of struggle.

The bipartisan project of dismantling our democracy has left only the outward shell of democracy. The courts, legislative bodies, the executive branch and the media, including public broadcasting, are captive to corporate power. There is no institution left that can be considered authentically democratic. The corporate coup d’état is over. They won. We lost.